It’s the start of a new year and time to eat a little lighter, but we do like our scones. I’m a little surprised that this is only the fifth time I’ve posted about scones because Kurt and I both enjoy them in all flavors, shapes, and sizes. They can be decadent though. So, I was happy to try this slimmed down recipe from Flour
since I’m becoming convinced this book can do no wrong. Joanne Chang set out to make less indulgent scones that didn’t rely on extra sugar for flavor. Instead, these are packed with dried fruit and frozen cranberries, and the not-too-sweet dough is made with a little canola oil instead of a lot of butter. They’re also topped with a vanilla glaze which gives them instant visual appeal. I even went one step further and used some whole wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose. The result was a scone that’s good enough to look forward to each morning without a trace of guilt.These scones were also very easy to make. There was no butter to cut into the flour, and the dough wasn’t even rolled out or cut to form the scones. To start, I mixed whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a big bowl. Then the fruit was added, and that included dark raisins, golden raisins, chopped dried apricots, I used chopped dried pineapple instead of dried apples, dried cranberries, chopped candied ginger, and I used frozen cranberries since fresh ones are no longer available. In a small bowl, eggs, yogurt, and buttermilk were whisked together, and then that was stirred into the flour mixture. The dough was scooped one-half cup at a time onto a baking sheet, and the scones were ready to bake. There was a note in the recipe stating that once the scones are scooped onto a baking sheet, they can be frozen and then baked directly from the freezer. So, I made them in advance and baked them from the freezer so we could have freshly baked scones for breakfast. They just require about five extra minutes in the oven if frozen. After baking and cooling, a confectioners’ sugar and vanilla glaze was spooned over each one.
It had actually been three and a half months since I last made scones, and that’s kind of a long time. Every scone recipe looks good to me, and I found five of them in Vegetarian Classics
. The ginger cream and the double almond were very tempting, but I chose to make the Irish wholemeal scones first because they sounded kind of healthy. They look like healthy scones too, don’t you think? Of course, they’re not health food of the strictest variety given that they have a good dose of butter in them. The author, Jeanne Lemlin mentioned some scones she had in Skibbereen, County Cork that were like Irish brown bread. She set out to re-create them at home using whole wheat flour which is the closest we have to Irish wholemeal flour. Hopefully, my friends in Dublin can let me know if these look like authentic Irish scones or not.
They’re made with unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, oats, and wheat germ. A scant two tablespoons of sugar sweetens them just enough, and butter, buttermilk, and one egg give them rich flavor. I had a small handful of currants leftover from another recipe, so I added them to the scone dough. The dough was patted into a disk, and it was to be cut into 12 triangular scones. I may have left the disk a little thicker than I should have, and 12 cuts would have made rather slender scones, so I went with eight larger ones instead. The tops were brushed with milk, and I decided to sprinkle on some extra oats and a little turbinado sugar just for the added visual appeal. The oats on top give them that healthy look.
Scones and muffins are Kurt’s favorite things for breakfast because they’re very grab and go. He liked that these were only lightly sweetened, and the combined flours, wheat germ, and oats gave them an almost nutty taste. They were light and tender, and if you take the time to sit down with one of them, they go very nicely with strawberry preserves. It won’t be long before I try the other scones in this book or recipes from elsewhere, but I’ll definitely be making these again too.
Every time I see a scone recipe, I want to try it. Kurt certainly wouldn’t mind if I did try every scone recipe, and since I don’t even need much encouragement to bake, I baked scones again. Hopefully, this won’t become a dedicated scone site, but chances are good there will be additional scone variations presented here. These particular scones are another item from Exceptional Cakes, and there’s so much more on my to-bake list from that book. Date shortbread bars or the chocolate caramel tart could be next. But, about these scones, I thought I should compare these to the last scones I baked.
These scones were made with self-rising flour which I had never used before. I didn’t even find it at my grocery store, so I made it as described here. An additional two teaspoons of baking powder was added to the homemade self-rising flour. Those ingredients were sifted with salt and sugar, and butter was worked in with my fingertips. Some milk was measured and then eggs were beaten into it and that was poured into the flour butter mixture. I stirred this together and folded in chopped, fresh strawberries. The strawberries were my choice of an addition, but the recipe suggested sultanas. I usually cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter, but this time I worked it in with my fingertips. I think the fingertip method is actually faster, and I definitely had a better sense of when it was well-combined. I may never go back to the pastry cutter. Now, interestingly, the minneola tangelo-buttermilk scones I made in February, used all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Butter was mixed in with a pastry cutter, buttermilk was added, and then the segmented tangelos and zest were incorporated. There were no eggs in the dough, and there was more buttermilk than the milk in these scones.
The tangelo scones were fantastic, and they rose nicely. However, in my opinion, the texture of these strawberry scones was the better of the two. It was more delicate and less crumbly. Warm from the oven, they were incredible, and re-warmed the next day, they were still incredible. Let me know if you have a favorite scone recipe, or if your scones have eggs or not, and I’ll keep trying every recipe I see.
UPDATE:Since the book is not available, and I had a request for the recipe, I'm including it below.450 g self-raising flourpinch of salt25 g granulated sugar2 t baking powder85 g unsalted butter, softened2 eggs200 ml cold milkchopped fresh strawberries or fresh or dried fruit of your choice (I used about a pint of fresh strawberries.)1 egg for glazesugar for sprinkling-preheat oven to 170 degrees C or 350 degrees F; line a large baking tray with parchment or silpat; sift the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder into a bowl; add the butter and rub in with your fingertips; in a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add the milk, then pour into the flour; stir together quickly and lightly, adding fruit if using; don't overwork the dough, the quicker and lighter you are, the better the scones will be-tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a one inche thickness; cut into rounds and place on prepared baking tray; lightly beat egg for glaze and brush onto tops of scones, then sprinkle with sugar-bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until risen and lightly browned
It’s great to see so many magazine articles authored by food bloggers these days. In the February issue of Living, Clotilde Dusoulier wrote about crepes, and Deb Perelman wrote about cupcakes. There have been several instances of articles by bloggers in other magazines too, and it’s a nice acknowledgement of the popularity of food blogs. In Living’s January issue, Clotilde wrote about citrus, and that’s where I saw these delicious-looking, tangelo scones. Kurt is a fan of scones since forever, and thus, these were destined to be a treat for our Valentine’s Day breakfast.
I had never made scones with buttermilk, or minneola tangelos for that matter, so I was intrigued. This recipe makes a lot of scones, and had I been thinking more clearly, I would have cut it in half. Although, having some of these in the freezer isn’t such a bad thing. For the full recipe, six tangelos were peeled, segmented, seeded, and chopped, and one was zested. The dough was mixed in a large mixing bowl and then turned out onto a floured surface and patted into a rectangle as usual for scones. I made a lame attempt at cuteness by trying to cut out heart shapes. This wasn’t the scone for cute hearts. The tangelo chunks squirted and were squashed in the sticky dough by the cutter, and the resulting heart shape was less than precise. I abandoned that quickly and cut the rest in triangles.
There is a lot of liquid in the dough from the chopped tangelos and the buttermilk, and the cut scones need to be chilled for at least a couple of hours before baking. I brushed the tops with an egg wash since I didn’t have any cream and then sprinkled on turbinado sugar. Just to make them extra fancy for my Valentine, I squiggled on a confectioner’s sugar glaze before serving. The juicy bits of tangelo were lovely in the scones, and the buttermilk balanced the sweetness. I’m guessing these scones will make repeat appearances in my kitchen each time tangelos are in season.
I received Avoca Tea Time as a lovely birthday gift in March (thanks Sharon and Bill!) and finally baked some scones this past weekend. After pulling out my copy of Food Lover’s Companion and doing some quick conversions, I mostly followed the recipe for Scones with Sultanas and Cranberries. Sadly, my supply of raisins included about a tablespoonful and I forgot to buy dried cranberries, but I had frozen blueberries. Hence, the title you see above. These were devoured hot out of the oven with a cappuccino on Sunday morning.
Now, I’m thinking seriously about acquiring a kitchen scale. Ruhlman discussed the topic recently. The measurements would have been more accurate and much easier to achieve.
